# Exterior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, German]() - Date: 1351-1400 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary During the reign of Charles IV \(king of Bohemia from 1346, emperor 1355--78\) Prague was effectively a fixed capital of the German Empire. The foundation stone for the St. Vitus's Cathedral was laid in 1344. The first architect was Mathieu d'Arras \(1290-1352\) who designed the ground plan for the choir and built part of the ambulatory and the radiating chapels. After his death the young Peter Parler \(1330-1399\) introduced truly modern architecture into the construction. A decidedly modern motif is visible on the external pier buttresses between the chapels of the ambulatory, where each pinnacle pierces the off-set so that its finial seems to emerge above. The photo shows the pinnacle breaking through off-set. ## Related artworks - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Baumburg Tower]() - [East view \(detail\)]() - [Exterior view \(detail\)]() - [Exterior view from the east]() - [Exterior view from the east]() - [Exterior view from the north-east]() - [Exterior view from the north-east]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()